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"Because I'm smart, asshole!" Edwina shouted, but was only met with the darkness as a reply. She frowned a bit, adjusting her grip on a few of the duffle bags. She couldn't deny that part of her wanted to chase after the Bat, and see if protection from the Suicide Squad could be provided. But from what she could recall, Bruce Wayne and Amanda Waller were close friends. He likely wouldn't shelter them, especially after the results of their actions. She bit her lip, thinking through moves they could make. It'd be more than helpful if Nyt could just zap them to her home planet, but neither of them had powers on that level.

Leaving the bank with the other girls, Edwina continued to ponder their options. Cheetah was right. A billionaire would have the security to catch them before they even got close to taking shelter there. And the prospect of abandoning Cheetah, despite the feline woman trying to capture them earlier, made her feel uneasy. The devil you know, after all.

"There's strength in numbers," Edwina pointed out, though she could tell how Nyt felt about the criminal. She nodded, conceding to her friend's point. Cheetah wouldn't rat them out, assuming that the money proved to be enough for the woman to live comfortably. "Alright. Let's leave the city, then...Any suggestions as to where to go?" Edwina asked.

---

Barbara scoffed at Nyt one last time, yet it was more of a friendly accomplice sort of snort rather than an offended one. Looking at the two villainous superheroines one last time, she gave them a grinned and stood up with her bags. “Maybe our paths may cross again, but until then, good luck, ladies. It was a pleasure doing business with ya,” she said coolly and nodded at them one last time. When the subway stopped, she hopped off, ready to take another subway to nowhere in particular. Nyt looked after Barbie until she left and the doors closed, blinking tiredly.
There would always be strength in numbers, but she realized if they kept Barbara’s company, it would entail more villains than the two girls already had. She was fighting sleep but she couldn’t imagine fighting more ‘bad guys’, especially after the Joker inevitably betraying them or the Batman’s stern lecture. “Batman was nice enough to let us go,” she said with a yawn and closed her eyes while her head swam in thoughts. Where to go?, she wondered.
Her heart sang, ‘Austea’, the name of her home planet over and over again. It seemed like the most rational option, considering they were now wanted by both villains and superheroes, through no fault of their own, really. Slowly, a plan formed in her head. “For now, we head to my hometown in Oregon. My family will take us in and understand what we went through. My father and brother have been trying to work on the spaceship I came in as a baby, but I doubt it’ll fit one of us, even. We’ll have to figure out a way to get up there,” she said, pointing up towards the ceiling as a signal for space.
“It’s… going to suck leaving them behind. They’re all earthlings with such strong ties to this planet… I guess you could say the otherworldly-ness of me is coming out now,” she said with a tired grin.

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Edwina nodded a bit, thinking over the spaceship. While some small town folk in Oregon may struggle with it, she had a degree in physics. Engineering was a bit different, but it was really just the application of science to various issues and problems. With enough concentration, even if they couldn't fix it, Edwina likely could. As they sat in the Subway car, Edwina was too drained to maintain the normal illusions, her skin taking on the softest glow from all of the light she had been directing.

"You know, the Bat is the reason my uncle Jack went crazy," Edwina offered, sighing a bit. Sure, her uncle had been a criminal to start with. He hadn't been, however, the green haired freak that he was presently. There had been some sort of heist at a chemical factory, and because of the Gotham Bat, her uncle had fallen into a vat of acid. The Bat had created his own worst nightmare.

"I can probably fix the ship," Edwina added. "Experimental physics is sort of my thing...What's your planet like, by the way?"

 

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Nyt began to take off the more ridiculous pieces of the costumes given to them by the Joker. She gave a small chuckle when Edwina mentioned why the Joker had such… Particular behaviours. “I wonder which of them is really the culprit behind their troubles. Staying ahead of the Joker is like constantly mixing reality and fiction. I have no doubt Batman will try to keep an eye on us until we leave. Otherwise he could have killed us, really,” she said, her voice dropping to a small whisper at the end. She had pried off the poofy arm cuffs and the fluffy skirt over her black shorts, and now felt a little embarrassed by how immodest it made her seem.
Luckily, Eddie pulled her from feeling the shame of being near naked around so many strangers, asking about Austea. She stayed quiet for a moment with the words on the tip of her tongue ready to roll away in an excited fashion. “I’d love to give you an in-depth insight about Austea, but honestly, I’m not even really sure myself. My twin sister, Din, has been traveling space since our births. She was supposed to land near me, but something separated us along the way. My Earth family found me and my father happened to be one of the men from NASA called out to see the ‘meteorite’ that lit up the sky.”
A small smile played out on her lips as she dove into another memory, “My sister, aged by the space travel, came years later when I was 13 and she was 16, as I was looking up at the night sky one evening. At that time, I didn’t realize I was a beacon of sorts with my powers and she zeroed in on my location. The first time, I only spent one entire solar day with her and then she left me here again. I begged her to take me with her – I pleaded and cried. But she said not yet and I didn’t understand why.” She shifted in her seat when the subway stopped to let people off and left with new passengers; for the most part, everyone was involved in their own little worlds with their phones, tablets, and drugs, even.
“She visited again when she was 17, so I must’ve been about 15 then. She came with two of her friends from Austea and two dogs; one from Earth and one from Austea. I spent some time with them but traveling to different planets – we were trying to steer clear of someone on Austea,” she said with a hint of anger, her mind lingering on a faint memory of King Rorwind and their ongoing feud. “They brought me back here because she wanted to face him alone. Of course, I didn’t know that until I realized they had left when I went to use the bathroom… She left me a tablet, though, and sometimes we’re able to send messages to each other. It’s a fickle little device, however” she stubbornly added.

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Edwina shrugged. She figured that the Joker and the Bat were two sides of the same coin, designed to continue a tragic dance for the rest of their time on Earth. It unsettled her, slightly, that the Bat was none other than Bruce Wayne. The man was loaded with riches, enough to stabilize the socioeconomic climate of Gotham. Instead, he spent his time running around in costume, destroying the city as he attempted to fight the crime that he created. She knew that her father's girlfriend, Harley Quinn, had definitely been created by the Bat. There were rumors that Harley had a daughter even, one that Edwina hoped desperately not to be true. No one else had to be dragged into the Bat's escapades.

"Sounds like a bit of a rocky relationship," Edwina joked, referring the fact that most planets are in fact giant rocks. "Hmm....I could always try to boost the signal on your tablet, and we can attempt to contact your sister, then? Light is rather good at becoming energy....I'd just need a few hours rest, and an idea of how far this signal needs to go, for me to try to boost it."

Truthfully, Edwina knew that it would be far more complicated than that. The few hours would be for rest, but mostly for calculations, for her to see if she even could boost the signal with light waves. It seemed unlikely, but Isaac Newton invented an entirely new branch of mathematics for his purposes.

Why couldn't she invent a new type of light optics for hers?

 

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Nyt gave a sweet smile of realization when Edwina suggested using her powers to boot the signal from her tablet, to her sister out in deep space. It was a monumental task, something she definitely could not do with her own sound waves if she so tried. She remembered a time when she would try to send beeps and bloops of sorts from Earth, but it only ever really startled those within a mile radius of her. She patted Edwina on the hand, thankful for every bit of help she could get.
Her heart began to race slightly as she realized it was now possible to leave this Earth. For the first time in a long while, she hummed one of her favourite songs as she closed her eyes, ready for a nap. Although she had no clue whatsoever how to get to Oregon, she was confident in their teamwork to get the job done. She opened an eye to look over at her companion and softly spoke, “I think we should get off soon as soon as we arrive at the border of the state and look into getting a cheap clunker capable of getting us to Oregon in one piece. What do you think?”

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Edwina thought it over. If she was a criminal attempting to escape (which, she supposed, she now was) a cheap car would be the obvious solution. And then, detectives would want to locate cheap cars, if going after a criminal. Thus, an expensive car would make sense...However, expensive cars would attract the most attention. She tapped her fingers on her knee, before coming to the conclusion they'd have to take a car that would have no paper trail at all to it.

"We can't leave any sort of record behind," Edwina explained. "Waller'll be on us before we know it if we do."

She strummed her fingers again, before her eyes widened. She had recalled the story of a girl who once went to Edwina's university, just a few years older. She was called the Silver Curse, one of the best hackers in the world. It was rumored that Silver Curse used telekinesis in order to penetrate any system.

And Edwina just so happened to have saved the Silver Curse's supposed number into her phone on a dare. "I'm going to suggest more crime...Hack into Bruce Wayne's bank account, transfer funds to pay for our transportation. He'll know it's us, and we know his secret. He goes after us, we unmask Batman." Of course, there was one slight complication.

There were rumors that the Silver Curse, known more commonly as Vivian Adler, had been thrown in prison just last year. "We need the help of another criminal, I think...And it'll be expensive to fix the ship as well, it's really the only way..."

 

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Nyt tiredly grinned at the redhead and her chuckling turned into full-blown delirious laughter at the suggestion of using Bruce Wayne’s account and enlisting the help of another villain. She never considered running into him again, but she felt drawn to him as she did to Eddie. Both of the girls could have used their abilities for evil and possibly taken out the Bat the first night they met him, if it wasn’t for the Joker’s pesky tricks throwing her into a doozy.
“I can only imagine the look on his face when we do it,” she said after she calmed herself and wiped the tears from her eyes. Settling back into her seat, she anticipated the next stop might be a good time to throw off anyone on their tails. She reached down to grab her half of the bags and made eye contact with Eddie with a small smile on her face.
“Well, I’m dying for some sleep. We’ll get off on the next stop, grab something to eat, and rest up. Might be a good idea to blow some of this money, too. This outfit sucks.” She tugged at the hem of her shorts and shook her head. Why did I ever put this on?, she said, trembling slightly from the breeze of the wind once the doors opened up. She let Eddie go first, while nonchalantly looking back to see if she recognized any strangers from the previous city.
Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, she followed behind Eddie as they quickly got off the train to catch another one that would take them closer to the downtown of the city. “We’ll see the city life here or something for a bit,” she casually mentioned, wanting to get rid of the outfit as soon as possible. She knew the first boutique or shop they entered, they would undoubtedly get stares anyway.

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Edwina chuckled a bit, realizing how much Nyt hated the outfit. The more she thought about it, the more she chuckled, to the extent she could hardly breathe. Out of every problem facing them, the most stressful one was a fashion emergency. She wiped a tear from her eye, thinking of the absurdity of their existence. They were heroes, forced to act like criminals in order to keep criminals, under the order of heroes, from killing them. It was more than a cosmic joke--it was practically a cosmic acid trip.

"We'll get you some new clothes, promise," Edwina teased. "More polka dots this time? I hear they compliment stripes rather well." Letting herself relax for a moment, Edwina leaned up against the wall of the train, letting her eyes close. The train took them closer and closer to the middle of the city, and she felt the first moment of calm since they had been on the run. Things were finally starting to go their way, until....

BOOM.

BOOM.

BOOM.

The train shook, the lights flickering off. Everyone aboard quickly fell into the frenzy and hysteria of a mob, pressing for the exits. Edwina, able to see when others couldn't, quickly located the door and got herself and Nyt to safety. As they gazed up towards the sky, they would see the large mushroom clouds, a sickly pink and green looking gas. It may have been their imagination, but a familiar helicopter was up in the sky as well.

Amanda Waller's, to be precise.

"They found us," Edwina whispered in dismay. "They're here."

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Nyt was in the middle of relaxing with Edwina against the wall of their second train when her ears faintly detected the sounds of a helicopter flying much too close to their train. She hoped, more than anything, it was for some other criminal, and not the girls who just robbed a bank because the Joker wanted them to. Once the three resounding booms woke her right up, she knew in her hearts that someone had come for them, and her heart worked quickly to try to figure out who it could be: Batman, Joker, or the dreaded Amanda Wallace…
When Edwina and her ran to safety outside of the subway, the sky was the most colorful it had been since she crash-landed all those years ago. The smell of it had already wafted into their noses and Nyt looked around to see if there was a safe area to stash their crispy fresh cash. She motioned with her head to Edwina to follow her, against the walls of the buildings as she kept her eye on the helicopter. She tried to keep a low profile, long enough to find a small opening for the sewage drains and threw her two bags in.
“We’re gonna have to drop these for now and hope to God we can return for them later,” she quickly told Edwina. Looking back to the sky, she could see the helicopter now following them, and she knew full well they were spotted. “We’ll run into another drainage and travel that way. I think whoever is in the helicopter is going to think twice about the stench,” she said out loud, hoping she was right.

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Edwina bit her lip. She was sick and tired of running, having done little else for the past month. Nodding at Nyt's plan, Edwina ran with her through the subway, sticking to the walls and avoiding the lines of sight whenever possible. The station was only partially underground, complete with a glass roof to allow in natural light--as well as lines of sight for the chopper. Eventually, as Nyt threw their bags into the sewer, Edwina grimaced a bit.

"Ugh...Do we have to?" she grumbled a bit, before following suit and sliding down into the sewer with Nyt. She held her breath, as if Amanda Waller and her crew of crazies could hear them, even then. She almost shushed Nyt, before her eyes widened a bit, getting an idea.

"Can you throw you voice to Gotham? Maybe the Bat'll come and help us," Edwina proposed, knowing that they wouldn't be able to keep on doing this. They needed all of the help they could get, no matter where it came from. It wouldn't be too long before they slipped up, a mistake that would cost them their lives.

And Edwina wasn't ready to die just yet.

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Once the girls slipped into the sewer drain, Nyt gave a short whistle when she realized it was a lot darker than she had anticipated. With the echoes being thrown around, she could see in her head how many different paths they could take. She reached out to grasp Edwina’s shoulder and as she began to lead, Edwina suggested they call the city’s hero. She cringed slightly, hoping they had seen the last of him when he caught them with the Joker. She knew she would be beet-red in the face if they ever met again, but now they were really in need: much more than when they had asked the Joker to help them, apparently.
Sighing, she agreed with a short “Okay”, before she stopped in their tracks so she could focus on throwing her voice to him. It would be difficult, but being underground helped a lot more than being up in the city, where her voice could easily be drowned out. “Help us, Bruce,” she said repeatedly, feeling the soundwaves grow stronger and stronger until they traveled on their own accord. She continued repeating the phrase and the sound of her voice drifted away while her lips still moved. It took a full five minutes, as she concentrated on where he could be. She figured after he threw the Joker in jail, (if he caught him in time), he would head home and spend a quiet evening with his butler. At least, that’s what she would have done if she was a millionaire, she imagined.
Elsewhere, the alien wasn’t wrong: Bruce, indeed, did head home and let Alfred help him out of his costume while putting on his comfortable evening wear. He flipped through his phone for any messages that needed his attention or news that could affect the city of Gotham, but instead, he felt a nagging sensation that he forgot something. Settling down into his leather couch, ready to turn on the TV, his ears caught the faint sound of a female voice. It was vaguely familiar and oddly inviting, but the stronger the soundwaves got, the more frightened he became. Ghosts?, he instinctively thought.
“Help us, Bruce.”
Where have I heard that voice?, he wondered as he was frozen with fear, clutching the arm of the couch. He was equipped to deal with almost any sort of monster, but ghosts were especially difficult when you couldn’t beat the crap out of them.
“Help us, Bruce!”
The tone of the voice was much too worried for it to be a supernatural being and suddenly, it clicked in his head. Before he apprehended the Joker, he remembered the three females accompanying him. There was one female, in particular, who seemed unearthly and he only got a brief look at her before Barbara closed the steel vault door on her accomplice. “You just had to jinx us, didn’t you?” he remembered her saying. The last thing he heard her say before he slipped into the night was, “We… gotta go.” Shaking his head, he quickly stood up and called out to Alfred. The butler appeared to step out of the shadows, ready for his new task.
“Looks like I’ll have to suit up again,” he said begrudgingly. He could still hear Nyt’s voice in his head, pleading for help and it began to haunt him. “How can I search for the owner of a disembodied voice?” he wondered out loud, scratching the scruff under his neck. Alfred didn’t seem fazed as Bruce got lost in thought and simply coughed to get his attention.
“Might I suggest you follow the voice, Sir?” Alfred offered. Bruce stopped scratching under his chin and sighed; this man definitely deserved more than Bruce could offer with money. The man deserved a happy life and yet, he wanted to serve as a butler.
“Thank you. Let’s go,” Bruce said decidedly and quickly, the two got him back into his costume.
Presently, Nyt felt her soundwaves hit her intended target and she worked to bring back the conversation that Alfred and Bruce had by stealing the waves from their voices. “He’s coming!” she said excitedly as she clapped her hands. “He’ll follow my voice. Let’s keep going and move to somewhere less stinky,” she said with a grin.

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Edwina had a particular advantage when it came to the dark. Having rested her powers a bit since the fight with the Gotham Bat, she could see despite the darkness. While her powers didn't illuminate anything for anyone else, it provided her a bit of comfort, but she allowed Nyt to guide her nonetheless. She had a terrible sense of direction--something that she was convinced was supposed to be her Kryptonite, and instead, was more of just a pain in the ass.

So in the end, it was exactly her Kryptonite.

"That's--That's fucking fantastic!" Edwina cheered, though her voice was a whisper. She didn't trust that Waller didn't have something in the sewers already, perhaps having anticipated that was where the girls would hide. Glancing ahead of them, Edwina grasped Nyt's hand and helped her friend along the sewer path, allowing her alien friend to focus on throwing her voice to the Gotham Bat. She kept her eyes peeled, looking for some sort of service tunnel.

"If we're lucky, there might be a disused underground station or something down here..." Edwina explained, biting her lip. The odds didn't look too good. Even if the Gotham Bat came, what was to say he wouldn't side with Waller and her Death Squad? The entire world believed Waller's lie about the Powerbound Alliance, how they had been an active terrorist organization, and the immense threat posed by its only two living members.

Why wouldn't the Gotham Bat believe the lie as well?